"run for his money" - literal? (i.e. he actually did something involved with money) Literal in the sense he did something involved with money, yes or figurative? (i.e. he got taken advantage of in some way not related to money). There is a figurative note in this sentence as well

Did he misunderstand what the purpose was? Yesish Or think he could use it for something other than its intended use? Yes

Is the thing he purchased an object? This A service?

Did he underestimate his own skill? If you mean overestimate, then yes Overestimate the quality/reliability of what he bought? No Did he try to save money? No If so, did it come at the cost of safety? Reliability? Usefulness? and so, neither

Thanks, I meant overestimate. The thing he bought, was it a tool? Machine? Substance? Sports equipment? Transportation? Toy? Did he break it? Injure himself? Injure others? Are there other relevant people in this puzzle? Or things? Or do we mainly need to figure out what he bought, what he tried to do and what happened when he did? Did he originally buy the object for its original purpose? Or for his own intended purpose? Relevant? Is price relevant? Was it expensive for this type of product?

Thanks, I meant overestimate. The thing he bought, was it a tool? Machine? Substance? This Sports equipment? Transportation? Toy? Did he break it? No Injure himself? Yope Injure others? NoAre there other relevant people in this puzzle? Yes, one Or things? No, except for the one he bought Or do we mainly need to figure out what he bought, what he tried to do and what happened when he did? Exactly soDid he originally buy the object for its original purpose? Yope Or for his own intended purpose? Yope Relevant? Essentially :-))Is price relevant? No Was it expensive for this type of product? No and irr

Did he consume it? Yes Was it medicine? Yes Drug? Yes as medicine, no as an addictive substance Was it flammable? Probably not Is (non)flammability relevant? Not at allIs the other person HAM? Yes for H and A, irrelevant for M Did he buy the substance from this person? Yes Was this person present at the incident? No

Did he buy it from a pharmacy? Did he have the condition it was meant to treat? Was it a laxative? Or diuretic? (thinking about a possible interpretation of "a run for his money" =) Did he throw up? Get sick? Go to the hospital? Viagra relevant? Did he use too much, or too little (compared to recommended dosage)? Did the person selling it know what he intended to do? If so, was he warned?

Did he buy it from a pharmacy? Yes Did he have the condition it was meant to treat? No Was it a laxative? Yes indeed Or diuretic? No(thinking about a possible interpretation of "a run for his money" =) Perfectly correct thinking Did he throw up? No Get sick? No - just the usual effect of a laxative Go to the hospital? NoViagra relevant? NoDid he use too much, or too little (compared to recommended dosage)No? Did the person selling it know what he intended to do? The person selling it assumed that he was going to use it according to the recommendations written on it If so, was he warned? No

Did he think the laxative wouldn't work/work that well on him? If so, was there a particular reason why he didn't think so? Did he interact with the pharmacist other than by buying the laxative? Did he take it as part of a bet/dare? Did he think it would do something in addition to/instead of the laxative effect?

Did he think the laxative wouldn't work/work that well on him? No If so, was there a particular reason why he didn't think so? Did he interact with the pharmacist other than by buying the laxative? Not really Did he take it as part of a bet/dare? No Did he think it would do something in addition to No/instead of Yes the laxative effect?

So when he went to the Pharmacy he had already decided what to buy? Decided to buy a laxative? Or decided to buy a drug with a specific name? Did he not know what a laxative is? Or not know what that specific drug should do? Is it important to know what effect he supposed the drug would have?

So when he went to the Pharmacy he had already decided what to buy? Yes Decided to buy a laxative? No Or decided to buy a drug with a specific name? No Did he not know what a laxative is? He did know what a laxative is Or not know what that specific drug should do? True

Is it important to know what effect he supposed the drug would have? Essential :-))

Would any laxative have worked as well? (I mean, not "worked" as in had an effect, I mean made sense for the reason he was intending) Any laxative would work for this puzzle; however, a FA is lurking in your question

Problem with language relevant? Yes! Him being in a foreign country, mis-understanding something? Yes - he was in a foreign country and something was misunderstood.

Did he mis-translate a word for "laxative"? "diarrhea"? "constipation"? the name of the condition he was trying to treat? no mental translation involved at all?

I am aware that "constipado" means "congested" (as from a cold) in Spanish, not "constipated". But this confusion would have resulted in the opposite problem, namely mistaking a decongestant for a laxative.

Did he mis-translate a word for "laxative"? "diarrhea"? "constipation"? this one, precisely the name of the condition he was trying to treat? and so, this no mental translation involved at all?

I am aware that "constipado" means "congested" (as from a cold) in Spanish, not "constipated". But this confusion would have resulted in the opposite problem, namely mistaking a decongestant for a laxative.

Bingo. That's exactly it, you have just to switch the countries. Here goes the

************SPOILER***********

Daniel is a Spaniard with a fairly good knowledge of English. On a trip to an English-speaking country, he catches a cold. He goes to a pharmacy and asks something for his "constipation" (which in most Spanish-speaking regions, means a common cold with a blocked nose, sneezing, sometimes fever... we have all been through it). The pharmacist - of course - gives him exactly what he is asking for.

Until now, Dani does not stop wondering about the low expertise level of the pharmacists abroad who, instead of giving him a product that could alleviate his cold, gave him a medicine that not only did not help his condition at all, but added a non-wanted DIARRHEA!

This shows that sometimes it is better not to be too confident as to our language skills, and better look things up in a dictionary. FALSE FRIENDS (similar words having different meanings in another language) can cause you many an embarassing situation.

(Btw. be careful with this one, too. "Embarazada" in Spanish means "pregnant", and there are some pretty good stories with this mistranslation as well :-))

Thanks everybody for participating, and especially Biograd for the final diagnosis.

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